The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for non-invasive analysis of properties of a medium. More particularly, the disclosure relates to systems and methods for measuring shear wave speed in a medium.
Non-invasive or non-destructive measurement of the mechanical properties of a medium is useful in a wide range of application. In particular, measuring the mechanical properties of tissues has important medical applications because it is related to tissue health state. For example, liver fibrosis is associated with increase of stiffness (shear modulus or shear elasticity) of liver tissue and thus measurement of liver stiffness can be used to non-invasively stage liver fibrosis. One way to non-invasively and non-destructively assess stiffness is using shear waves. As such, there has been increasing interest in creating and accurately measuring shear wave propagating in a medium.
Regardless of the particular system and resulting functionality being used or the underlying clinical information being sought, the use of shear waves in medical applications is increasing. As such, there is a need to provide more robust and efficient systems and methods for measuring or determining shear wave speed such in a manner appropriate for medical applications.